Sharon Astyk

Sharon Astyk is a writer & farmer & so much more. She has an amazing blog! I guess you could describe her blog as a Survival Blog from a woman's point of view. About surviving & preparing for the coming economic crisis, peak oil, etc. She offers more solutions & hope not doom & gloom. Gives amazing information about how to prepare the best we can for the unsure future or actually present as we are in hard times now. Information about food storage & preservation, farming/gardening, how to adapt in place even if you're not in the most ideal situation. Her book, Depletion & Abundance: Life on the New Home Front, has just come out & I would love to get it. She has so much information on her blog but I would love to have it in my hands.

Full Harvest Moon

Here's a picture of the Full Harvest Moon. I didn't get a picture last night as it was too overcast but this is from Saturday night while we were camping on our future little homestead. We had a good weekend working on the land trying to get it cleaned up for the winter & organizing the barn. Daydreaming of our future home. So it was a nice way of celebrating the Full Moon.

Beautiful Blessingway

I had the honor of attending a blessingway for my friend Caryn on Sunday night. I wish I had the words to tell what an amazing experience it was. Caryn is a very special person and wonderful mother so everyone there had beautiful things to say & share with her. Her first birth experience did not go as expected, which was the way of all of us in our group. We were surrounding her with strong positive energy for the coming birth of her daughter. Wishing for the birth experience she is wanting & needing.
We sat in a circle & each of us took turns presenting the bead we had chosen for her birth necklace, something symbolic to us from nature & sharing of wisdom or feelings. The energy was so powerful we were all caught up into it. It really made me realize how wise each of us are in our own way & we have so much to learn from each other & give. I was truly in awe of these women. It's so beautiful how we were sharing so much of ourselves in order to give Caryn the love & strength for this new journey in her life. Caryn's mother found this poem about witches. The poem spoke to her mother because Caryn's grandmother 11 generations ago was one of the first to be hanged as a witch in Massachussets in the Salem witch trials.

Witches

Who were the witches? Where did they come from?
Maybe your great, great grandmother was one
Witches were wise, wise women they say
And there's a little witch in every woman today
(There's a little witch in every woman today)

Witches knew all about flowers and trees
How to use all the bark and the roots and the leaves
When people grew weary from hard working days
Witches made them feel better - in so many ways

Women had babies and witches were there
To help and to feed them and give them sweet care
And witches knew stories of how life began
Don't you wish you could be one? - well, maybe you can!


Some people thought that the witches were bad
Some people were scared of the power they had
The power to heal and to give and to cure
It's not something to fear - it's a treasure to share

There's a little witch
There's a little witch
There's a little witch in every woman today!

I really liked this poem for I feel like the women of my family are all witches/wise women in their own way.

The song we sang was ~Sisters On A Journey~ which I don't think I had heard before but seemed familiar. It was beautiful, here are the lyrics~ (also found here

We are sisters on a journey, singing now as one! Shining through the darkest
night!
The healing has begun, begun, the healing has begun.
We are sisters on a journey, singing in the sun. Remembering the ancient ones:
The women and the wisdom, the women and the wisdom.
We are sisters on a journey, watching life unfold! Sharing warmth of heart and
hands:
The knowledge of the old—the knowledge of the old.
We are sisters on a journey, singing now as one! Shining through the darkest
night!
The healing has begun, begun, the healing has begun.

There is so much more. I could write a book about that one evening! One of the most strongest of feelings I had was when we went around the circle with yarn to wrap 3 times around our wrist saying our name, our mother's & our grandmother's. Then we were all joined in the circle, unified. We then cut the yarn & tied it. We will keep the yarn around our wrist until Caryn has the baby. It's so nice to look down at my wrist & have that reminder of that magical evening. Also we all have a candle to light when we she has gone into labor to send our positive energy to her. The night ended with good food & laughter. My long drive home was guided by Sister Moon, I felt happy & safe. My soul feels so nourished & I can only imagined how Caryn must feel. We need more of these rituals in our life. We need to connect more with others, honor these rights of passage & the circle of the seasons.

Changing of Seasons...

Even though it's still quite hot here in the South, lately I am noticing hints that Fall is coming. Some leaves on certain trees, like the dogwood above, are starting to turn colors. Yesterday late afternoon/early evening I could tell the light was different, it had a softer glow. And this morning is nice & cool. By August I am ready for Fall but I always seem to forget that the worse of the summer heat is upon us! I'm so happy it's September & I can start looking forward to a little bit cooler weather.
I think it is so important for us to become more connected with nature & the circle of the seasons. To really live in it & be apart of it. In this modern world we are so disconnected from nature as if we are above it all instead of part of it. We can live however we want whenever we want. We hardly pay attention to the seasons except for the holidays. The past few years I've really been making it my goal to try to live more in tune with the seasons & follow each seasons lead. Pay more attention to the food in season, activities to really honor, books to enjoy & learn about each season.
Here is a lovely quote I found by Thoreau~
Live each season as it passes, breathe air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each. Let them be your only diet, drink & botanical medicines. ~Henry David Thoreau~